Book Review: The Passenger by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz

I finished this book quicker than I expected. Somehow, it was a page-turner, yet there were also areas which made me scratch my head.

They say that this book is one of the most remarkable, visceral pieces of literature to emerge from the onset of the Holocaust. What sets it apart from many other works on the era is its staggering immediacy: Boschwitz wrote the novel in a frantic four-week fever dream immediately following the Kristallnacht pogroms of November 1938. Because it wasn't written decades later with the benefit of historical hindsight, it captures the psychological terror, confusion, and eerie social claustrophobia of that exact moment with the terrifying accuracy of a live broadcast. And perhaps this is the dimension that made it a page-turner for me, but at the same time, I find it rather hard to sympathise with the main character. After all, Otto Silbermann seems to only care about his money, all the way to the very end.

Book Review: The End of Eddy by Édouard Louis

I read this book and found it rather gripping. I have to say I enjoyed it.

The End of Eddy is a 2014 autobiographical novel by Édouard Louis. It became a major literary sensation in France and internationally, serving as a raw, unflinching examination of class, masculinity, and the struggle to escape one's environment. The story follows Eddy Bellegueule (the author's birth name) growing up in a poverty-stricken village in Picardy, Northern France. From a young age, Eddy is perceived as "different": his mannerisms and voice are seen as effeminate, which makes him a target for relentless bullying and violence in a community that prizes a rigid, aggressive form of traditional masculinity. The title has a dual meaning: it refers to the literal end of his childhood identity and his metaphorical "killing" of his past self to reinvent himself as Édouard Louis.

Book Review: S. by Doug Dorst

Oh, this was a challenging book to read. Perhaps it's because it was unlike many of the other books that are out there. It's an example of ergodic literature, after all.

S. is not just a book; it’s a literary puzzle box. To summarise it, one must acknowledge that one is actually reading two stories at once: the fictional novel Ship of Theseus by the mysterious V.M. Straka, and the marginalia (the handwritten notes) between two graduate students, Eric and Jen, who are trying to uncover Straka’s identity. There's actually three layers of narrative, which essentially required me to read each of the ten chapters multiple times. The first layer is the narrative that is actually depicted by the fictional novel. Then there's the narrative going on between the two readers, who are communicating multiple times via the notes they leave on each chapter. They do this multiple times, uding different ink-colour combinations. And of course, there is the third layer, the narrative between the author and the translator, which is only revealed via the investigative efforts of Jen and Eric.

Book Review: Briefe by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Somehow, I came across this book, which is a compilation of the majority of Mozart's letters. I don't really consider myself a big fan of Mozart, yet I have some familiarity with his works, mostly for historical and educational reasons. So in this same vein, I also thought that it would be a good idea to learn more about him as a person by reading his letters.

And I have to say, these letters give a lot of insight regarding the life of this historical figure!

For example, I enjoyed reading his early letters to his parents, when he was on tour and his father was essentially showcasing him around various cities in Europe. He had a rather interesting habit: I think he was like me, a morning person. In some of his letters, he gives details of his schedule, and his schedule tends to start rather early!

Book Review: Enigma Variations by André Aciman

Ah, this one was such a sensual book. It is a very sensual, atmospheric novel that maps the cartography of desire through the life of a single protagonist, Paul. I don't know why, but Aciman definitely makes me swoon somehow.

Rather than a linear plot, the book is structured as five interconnected novellas, each capturing Paul at a different age and exploring the "enigmas" of his heart. It starts with pure, agonizing adolescent yearning. Then there's jealousy, followed by high-ends flirtation. There is a volatile on-again-off-again romance. And finally a quiet, philosophical end that suggests our identities are not fixed; we are a collection of all the people we have loved and all the versions of ourselves we’ve left behind.

I don't normally read romance novels, and this one isn't really such a romance novel, but I have to admit, this book made me wet.

Book Review: What is the What by Dave Eggers

Wow, this was intense.

What Is the What is a powerful, genre-blurring novel by Dave Eggers, published in 2006. While it’s written by Eggers, it is the autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng, a real-life Sudanese refugee. Eggers calls it a "novel" because he uses fictionalized dialogue and reimagined scenes to fill in the gaps of Valentino’s memory, but the core events are harrowing and true. And as a reader, sometimes the narrative can become too intense, that I was sometimes torn between taking a pause or powering further as I wanted to know what happened next.

The narrative follows Valentino through two distinct timelines: one timeline is located in the past, in Sudan and Ethiopia. The other one is in the present, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Book Review: The Sickness by Alberto Barrera Tyszka

Oh, this was such an amazing book, that I finished it in one day. It tackles a rather sensitive topic, which is sickness and death, but it does so in a realistic yet comic way. It's also a rather short book, but I have to say, the pages simply flew by. And I was definitely hooked from the beginning to the end.

It tells the story of Dr. Andres Miranda, who happens to have a father dying of cancer. He already lost his mother back when he was a little child of ten, from a plane crash. And now, he's losing his father to cancer, but he is having trouble telling his father of his terminal illness. In the meantime, there is also Ernesto Duran, a hypochondriac, convinced that he is gravely sick, and has been pestering Dr. Miranda to see him. Eventually he turns into a stalker, and Dr. Miranda's nurse becomes involved. It is to some extent farcical, but it is actually tackling one of life's major events that everyone at some point will experience, that is death.

Book Review: Couchsurfing in der Ukraine by Stephan Orth

I have read all of the previous episodes of the author's Couchsurfing series, and I have to say, this was the most intense. I absolutely enjoyed it, and not only that, this book also made me think.

Ever since I picked up the first book on the author's travels in Iran, I've always been fascinated by the couchsurfing concept, and in fact, I myself also tried it for a few years, until I eventually realised that I am too introvert to always travel like that, not to mention that the community also evolved recently, which had an impact on the types of people using the platform. I suppose the author is one of those old-timers, and somehow, he has been successful in still finding like-minded individuals to host him in various parts of the world. This latest book is on his travels within Ukraine, right in the middle of the Russian war.

Book Review: Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavić

Oh, this book was different. Very different.

See, Dictionary of the Khazars (1984) is less a "novel" in the traditional sense and more of a literary labyrinth. Written by Serbian author Milorad Pavić (and this is my first book by a Serbian author), it is a masterpiece of postmodernism and magical realism that functions like a choose-your-own-adventure story for intellectuals. It's a "lexicon novel": Pavić didn't write chapters. Instead, he wrote dictionary entries. The book is divided into three "books" representing the three perspectives on the Khazar Polemic (a historical event where the Khazar people had to choose a new state religion): the Red Book (based on Christian sources), the Green Book (based on Islamic sources), and the Yellow Book (based on Jewish sources). Because it’s a dictionary, one doesn't have to read it from page one to the end. One can jump from entry to entry, following cross-references, effectively building one's own version of the story.

Book Review: The City and the Pillar by Gore Vidal

So, I picked up a Gore Vidal novel. I knew of this author before, but I just haven't had the chance to read it, until now. I began with this one, his third book. And I have to say, I liked it.

Published in 1948, Gore Vidal’s The City and the Pillar is a landmark of 20th-century American literature. It is widely recognized as the first post-World War II novel by a major author to feature a gay protagonist whose story is treated with seriousness and sympathy, rather than as a clinical case study or a cautionary tale of "divine" punishment. I actually didn't realise that this was the historical background of this novel: I guess I didn't notice that gay characters until then were just quietly killed off, and that the fact that the main character in this book didn't get killed off was actually a big deal. I suppose times are changing, and in 1948, this was a big thing.

Book Review: Black Snow by Mikhail Bulgakov

Oh, this was a funny satirical book!

Written in the mid-1930s but left unfinished at his death, this book is a biting, semi-autobiographical satire of the Soviet theatrical world. It serves as Bulgakov’s "revenge" on the Moscow Art Theatre and its legendary director, Konstantin Stanislavsky.

The story follows Sergei Maxudov, a struggling, disillusioned writer working a dead-end job at a shipping gazette. After his novel is rejected and he contemplates suicide, he is miraculously invited to adapt his book into a play for the prestigious "Independent Theatre."

What begins as a dream quickly devolves into a bureaucratic and artistic nightmare. And I definitely do not want to experience this nightmare in real life.

Book Review: The Impossible Journey by Thor Pedersen

Hmm, I am not sure I like this book. I enjoyed reading it, and I kept on turning the page continuously. But I also have quite a lot of opinions about the author. Somehow, it felt like this is an etude in stubbornness and recalcitrance.

See, the author wanted to visit every country on earth, without flying. That's hard to do. And one cannot easily do it alone, without supporters. But of course, if you succeed in doing it, then that is something. Well, for the author, it took him almost ten years to do so, battling a mountain's worth of bureaucracy, and of course, a pandemic. What was supposed to have been a trip that would only last 4 years (when planned in 2013) eventually took him almost 10 years, which included large bouts of being stranded in various different places, for various different reasons. And somehow, I find it hard to sympathise.

Book Review: The Return by Roberto Bolaño

Oh, this was a fantastic collection!

I have read plenty of books by Roberto Bolaño before, and most of them I enjoy massively. So I had high expectations for this one, and fortunately, this one delivered. This book is a haunting collection of thirteen short stories, published in English in 2010. I think that this book is classic Bolaño: a mix of the gritty, the surreal, and the meta-literary. I have read The Savage Detectives and 2666 before, and I find many of the same "ghosts"—lost poets, exiled revolutionaries, and detectives—haunting these pages. This book is literature that feels like a fever dream, where the mundane suddenly shifts into the macabre. It captures the "nightmare logic" of the 20th century while remaining deeply human and, at times, unexpectedly tender.

Book Review: Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers

Oh I loved this book. It had many elements that I found fascinating, not to mention it had explicit connections to the issues I was dealing with back when I was an academic. Additionally, even though this book was written in 1995, it feels so relevant nowadays, given the progress we have seen with artificial intelligence. This is a novel that delves into the intersection of technology, artificial intelligence, literature, and the very nature of human consciousness. It is an imaginative and semi-autobiographical blend of fiction and philosophical inquiry.

The story's central narrative revolves around a novelist, also named Richard Powers, who takes up a temporary research fellowship at a high-tech institute in the American Midwest following a personal and professional crisis (a failed relationship and writer's block). There, he collaborates with a brilliant, sarcastic cognitive scientist named Lentz on an ambitious AI experiment.

Book Review: A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood

I know I have slowed down on reading recently, but when I picked up this one, I felt that I couldn't drop it. It's a short one, but nevertheless, I thought it was rather gripping.

The novel chronicles a single day in the life of George, a 58-year-old English college professor living in Southern California in 1962, shortly after the Cuban Missile Crisis. George is still reeling from the sudden death of his long-term partner, Jim, who was killed in a car accident eight months earlier. He struggles to cope with the profound isolation of his loss, which is compounded by a homophobic society that did not recognize his relationship and forces him to grieve in private. The novel follows George through his routine—waking up, interacting with his neighbors, driving to the university, teaching his class, having dinner with his friend Charlotte, and visiting a local bar.

Book Review: In eisige Höhen by Jon Krakauer

Somehow, I picked up another book by Jon Krakauer. I've read Into the Wild before, and since I liked his writing style, I wanted to pick this one up. It took me awhile to finish this book, for a totally unrelated reason, but in any case, I finally finished it. It was actually a very harrowing read.

The book is Krakauer's personal account of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, which was the deadliest single season on the mountain at the time, with eight climbers perishing in a single 24-hour period (and 12 over the whole season). The author was on assignment for Outside magazine to write about the growing commercialization of Everest. He joined a guided expedition led by experienced mountaineer Rob Hall (Adventure Consultants). On May 10, 1996, a fierce and unexpected blizzard trapped multiple expeditions high up on the mountain, including Hall's team and a rival team led by Scott Fischer (Mountain Madness). The disaster involved a desperate struggle against hurricane-force winds, extreme cold, and the debilitating effects of altitude in the "Death Zone" (above 26,000 feet).

Book Review: Faggots by Larry Kramer

Urgh. What book did I pick up? This was intense, and not necessarily in a positive way.

Yes, it's satire. I know. It's portraying the fast lifestyle of gay men in 1970s New York City. This is all before the AIDS epidemic, when every gay man was essentially having sex with everyone else. And in the middle of that crowd, you find Fred Lemish, the main character, who is modelled after the author, trying to find true love before he turns 40. This is not an easy feat, when everyone else around him are more interested in his dick than in his heart.

To some extent, I can relate. I am 5 decades behind this book, and still the gay community still feels like this at times. Nowadays, there are dating apps, and on these apps, you see profiles of people who seem to have a goal just to have sex with every other good looking person on the app. And even though they are already old, they still call themselves with nicknames with the term "boy" which makes people wonder, wow, you're already almost 40, and yet you still call yourself a boy?

Book Review: Kava in the Blood by Peter Thomson

So this was something interesting, but not very captivating.

I actually picked this up as until now I haven't read a book from a Fijian author. I wanted to rectify that, so I picked up this tome. And in the process, I also learned about the Fijian coups of 1987. I have to admit, I know next to nothing about Fiji, so reading this book gave me a glimpse of this interesting country in the South Pacific.

Kava in the Blood is a non-fiction political memoir. It's an account of the 1987 military coups in Fiji, interwoven with the author's personal memories of growing up there. This contrasts sharply with my general preference for fiction, especially psychological novels. But at the same time, I found many snippets of it rather educational, filling in the blanks in my head about this country that until now is unknown to me.

Book Review: An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro

This was an extraordinarily fantastic book. Somehow, it was definitely a pleasure to read.

See, I find it absolutely fascinating that the author is British, and yet has managed to write a novel that felt absolutely Japanese. Yes, Ishiguro has Japanese roots, but nevertheless, his British upbringing gives the impression that he is more a British writer with Japanese origins, rather than a Japanese writer who happens to write in English. And this background, together with this output, is just stellar. I lived in Japan for almost five years, and Japanese culture - for better or for worse - is something that I have a higher-than-average familiarity with. This book definitely read like a Japanese novel, with plenty of British undertones. It might be a rash characterisation to say it like this, but it felt like a Victorian novel that happened to be set in Post-WWII Japan.

Book Review: Rheinaufwärts by Franz Hohler

This one was quite smooth. I was actually surprised I finished it in a few days.

This book is essentially a diary of the author as he hiked along the Rhine. I picked up this book during the time I myself was hiking the Rhine, but in a separate area. The author, unlike me, hiked in Switzerland, where he went from Schaffhausen all the way to the source of the mighty river. And so I found it interesting to see the other aspects of the Rhine which I am not yet familiar with. Each stage of his hike was essentially a diary entry in this book, and so it felt like reading someone else's blog, similar to what I normally do when I hike. And another thing I found interesting was that this was written actually during Covid, so there are large aspects of this hiking blog that touched on the realities of being outdoors during the pandemic. Issues like wearing masks while in the train have been touched every now and then, giving me the impression that this stressful time was already a few years ago that people already published books about it.